This is embarrassing to admit, but as an esl person, i have never been able to understand poetry, never.I remember in school they would make us read poems and then we were supposed to decipher what the author meant and i could never do it, it just never registered with me.However I've always wanted to learn to write poetry and understand it. Is there a place to start that you would recommend?How did you learn poetry, is it something you just effortlessly understand or is poetry some kind of puzzle you're supposed to think about until you understand it, like zen koans?for most my youth poems would piss me off in English classes because i knew i wasn't going to understand them, specifically the long ones. I've heard some poems that were just beautiful sentences or ideas like the famous one with the line about the worn out tools, but most poetry goes right over my head.what the hell is going on?what do i do?
Seems like you're just retarded. I'm ESL; I'm able to read Shakespeare just fine. I also read poetry in three other languages.Ever heard of Nabokov? Greatest stylist of the 20th century. ESL.
>>24686780yeah, i do believe i maybe on the slower side.i for example don't understand what time is, but that's a whole other story.the point is i want to understand poetry.i just don't get how people just know what a poem means especially the ones that are like stories, the long ones. maybe i'm too retarded to comprehend, if that's even possible, to be retarded enough to know i'm too retarded to understand poetry.it seems within my grasp, there's just something i feel like i'm missing.
>>24686758Find examples of different styles/movements of poetry. If one particularly resonnates with you, read more poetry in that style. The more you read (specially in one particular style) the more you understand it, and the less effort (i.e. study and research) it requires. Also, find particular themes that you're interested in and read all kinds of poetry that explores them.
>>24686817see i didn't even know there was movements, whatever that means.but thanks i'll try this.
>>24686758Teacher did this to us too. I said I don’t know the context nor the environment in which he wrote it. Most of these teachers don’t either, they use the same Big Education pre-packaged prep materials year after year.
>>24686829To give you an idea, Stefan George, a german poet, was an exponent of german symbolist poetry, which is characterized by being rich in symbolism and deals on subjective experiences and spirituality. Knowing this, if you read his poetry, you'll look for these elements within his work. This information will serve as clues so you won't be reaching around blindly for meaning. Good luck
>>24686758Because poetry is obscurity for it's own sake and not a worthwhile art form.
>>24686875Not all poetry is obscure, tho
I got filtered hard as well. The poetry they taught me at school is too corny and too stilted. I don't want to read some fags musings about life shoehorned in 12x12 syllabes or whatever. That kind of stuff is just asinine.
